George Cobb

George Cobb was a pitcher and occasional outfielder for the 1892 Baltimore Orioles and was no relation to Ty.

George Woodworth Cobb was born September 25, 1865, in Independence, the county seat of Buchanan County in eastern Iowa. He was the fourth of five sons of Edwin and Phynanda Cobb, both originally from New York. In the 1870 census the family lives in Independence. Edwin, 47, is a stock dealer, Phynanda is 45, Frank 14, Edwin Jr. 11, Albert 7, George 4, and Harry eight months. Phynanda passed away in February 1872.

In the 1880 census the family is somewhat more specifically on West Main Street in Independence, an interesting address for a farmer, which is what Edwin, 57, is now listed as. His unmarried 49-year-old sister-in-law Eliza Butterfield, Phynanda’s sister, lives with them and keeps house. 24-year-old Frank is still at home, with Albert, George and Harry, who are in school. Rounding out the household are servants Jacob (27) and Lizzie (23) Gales, both born in Prussia. Edwin Jr. (21) lives next door with his wife and two-year-old, and has his father’s former occupation, stock dealer.

George was a locally successful pitcher as a teenager. After graduating from high school in Independence he attended either the University of Iowa, where he pitched for the varsity, or Mt. Pleasant College—depending on which obituary one believes. Then he turned pro; the first newspaper mention of him I found was in the August 10, 1889, Cedar Rapids Gazette: “Independence has quit their boasting of its phenomenal trotter Axtell, and is boasting now of George Cobb, a phenomenal base ball pitcher.” This observation was repeated in a couple of other newspapers, but that’s all I found of him in 1889, so I don’t know where he was doing his phenomenal pitching. Apparently he pitched for Riverside, California, during the winter of 89-90.

On February 2, 1890, the San Diego Union reported:

George Cobb, the professional twirler, well-known in the East and also in California, having pitched for the Riversides, arrived in the city last night and will hereafter wear a San Diego uniform. Spear will catch him this afternoon in the local game which is to be played between the San Diegos and a picked team…

While the Oakland Tribune listed George in a February 15 article on the makeup of Oakland’s team for the upcoming season:

Pitcher—George W. Cobb of the Colorado State League is signed for this position. He weighs 178 pounds, and last year made an excellent record.

I don’t know which paper was more correct about George’s experience (and an Omaha Daily Bee story later in the year would state that he had played for Logan and Kearney in 1889), though being well-known in the East seems unlikely, but the Tribune got it right on where he would be pitching in 1890. Oakland was a member of the four-team California League, with San Francisco, Sacramento, and Stockton, and was captained by Tip O’Neill, but not that Tip O’Neill. Teams typically played three or four times a week, and George seems to have pitched most of Oakland’s games. On May 27 he found time to get married, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported on June 2:

George W. Cobb, the Oakland pitcher, was married last week at Riverside to Miss Maud Burt of that place. The bride is the daughter of one of the wealthiest land-owners around Riverside.

From the Oakland Tribune, June 18:

George W. Cobb is developing into an excellent pitcher. He has been very fortunate of late in winning nearly all the games he has pitched. The Colonel [Tom Robinson, Oakland owner] considers Cobb the best twirler in the California League. The only trouble with the young man is that he is quite conceited and labors under the hallucination that the Colonels could not possibly win the pennant without his assistance. He is greatly mistaken in this opinion.

The California League season ended in late November, but I could find no statistics. On December 12 the Riverside Daily Press quoted the San Francisco Post quoting an unspecified Oakland newspaper:

The San Francisco Post gets off the following, which, while not exactly correct in some particulars, will be appreciated: “An Oakland paper recently stated that if Pitcher Cobb does not secure a good position in the league next season he will quit the diamond. He has a rich father-in-law, who is a grocer at Riverside, and has already been offered a situation by that gentleman. George likes to hustle for himself, and certainly has enough sand for the grocery business.”

In December and January George pitched for San Diego in the Southern California winter league. At the end of January he signed with the San Francisco team in the California League for the 1891 season. On February 2 the San Francisco Chronicle said that “In Cobb the home team will have one of the best, if not the best pitcher who was in the California League last year.” On March 9 the San Francisco Call elaborated:

George Cobb, one of the Frisco pitchers for 1891, ranked among the best twirlers in the California League last season, when he was instrumental in bringing many victories to Manager Robinson’s Colonels. When Cobb made his first appearance here it was predicted he would not pitch the season out, but he continued to improve with every game, and in the closing months of the series was regarded as the most formidable twirler on the coast. Cobb has great speed in his delivery, and curves that turn sharply away from the plate as they approach the batter. His pitching has another very desirable quality also—steadiness. It was a rare thing last year to see him send two batters in succession to first base on called balls, and in an entire game very few “stickers” were sufficiently fortunate to reach the initial by the base-on-balls route. George is no mean sticker himself, and having a good eye and strong arm, takes delight in rapping out long hits.

The season began in late March. From the Call’s April 2 story on the previous day’s game, a 6-5 win at Oakland:

The white-suited men batted in streaks toward the latter part of the play, and the hitting resulted in run-getting. The Colonels’ main obstacle to scoring was George Cobb, who was in the box for the Friscos. Cobb pitched a splendid game, using in his delivery a “drop” ball that he did not possess last season. He employed the “drop” delivery all through the game, and it proved a mystery that the tail-enders could not solve. Even Lohman, Cobb’s old battery mate, was deceived by the pitching, and could not touch the descending sphere with his stick. Cobb, however, by a blundering piece of fielding, due to a pronounced case of “rattle,” almost gave the game to Oakland. The Colonels, in the fifth inning, had runners on second and third bases, when an easy ball was batted to Cobb. He lost his head and did not know where to throw. The batter reached first base, and the Colonel on the third scored. Had Cobb sent the ball home a run would’ve been shut off and the batter thrown out at first.

On May 3 George pitched both games of a morning/afternoon doubleheader against San Jose, the first game being played at the Oakland team’s field in Emeryville and the second in San Francisco. He lost 11-8 and then won 10-1, the Call reporting on the afternoon game:

George Cobb, who pitched the morning game, was placed in the box again at his request, and his peculiar “drops” and sinuous curves were converted into base hits on four occasions only. Cobb appeared to be as fresh and strong at the conclusion of the game as when he tossed the first ball over the plate in the game at the Emeryville grounds. His control of the sphere was nearly perfect, but one member of the San Jose team went to first base on called balls.

Same newspaper, May 11:

Pitcher George Cobb has performed some very clever box-work since he became a member of the San Francisco team, but he outdid himself yesterday afternoon. A very unusual occurrence happened the day before, the Colonels batted him about the field as if he were the veriest amateur, and George yesterday stepped in the box with the determination of showing the Colonels they could not repeat their performance. Glance at the base-hit column of the Oakland team in the score below and see if he succeeded.

There is an unbroken string of nine cyphers beneath the letters “B.H.,” and in the adjoining spaces under the letter “R.” in a similar display of zeroes.

A pitcher feels proud when he accomplishes the feat of shutting out an opposing team without a run, but when his delivery has not been touched up for a single base hit his happiness is complete. The shutting out of a team without a hit or run is a rare thing and serves as a bright spot in a twirler’s record. Yesterday was probably the first time the feat had been executed in the United States this season, and undoubtedly Mr. Cobb was last night in certain quarters considered a greater man than the President. Yet the day before he was in the shade. Such is the vacillating glory of a base-ball player’s life…

In other words, he pitched a no-hitter. He also went 3-for-5 with a home run and a double, and won 18-0. On July 6 the San Francisco Examiner reported:

PITCHER COBB WAS SULKY.

One Reason Why the Dukes won the Morning Game.

George Cobb, the long, thin, narrow athlete who pitches baseball for San Francisco, did not do himself very proud yesterday morning over at Emeryville when the Duke’s men won a game from Harris’ hired hands.

Pitcher Cobb, if it must be said, was a trifle balky. He didn’t want to pitch the game because he believes a large-sized Jonah lurks around the Colonel’s grounds every time he goes in the box and hoodoos him out of the game.

So he stood around and pitched one of those I’ll-press-the-button-you-do-the-rest sort of games. He seemed to carry too much weight on his feet, for he never made but two efforts to move around and field his position as he can field it. In one of his efforts he succeeded, but the other was what might be termed a dismal failure.

There was no reason in the world why Cobb should not have exerted himself more than he did, for his team gave him a good winning sendoff by gathering in three runs in the first inning on four hits, one being an over-the-fence shot by Levy, Rube sending the ball out over the sheds in right field and to the race track beyond.

But in the second inning Cobb balked and sulked, made no effort to gather in a little pop fly with two hands out, which he could easily have taken, and after that the Duke’s men opened up on his curves, the balance of the San Francisco team went to pieces, five runs came in for the men from Santa Clara, and from that time on they were never headed off…

On July 9 George won a game pitching eight innings of relief vs. Sacramento, as reported by the following day’s Call:

THEY COULDN’T HIT.

Frisco Defeated the Steers in an Exciting Game.

Cobb Sent the Ball Across the Plate and the Fielders Did the Rest—Notes of the Diamond.

…George Cobb never pitched a better game of ball than the one he won yesterday. Instead of trying to strike out the batsmen he shoved the ball across the plate and let them hit it. He did not get a single strikeout, but he kept the Giants down to four scattering hits, while the men back of him did the rest.

It was Otto Young’s turn to pitch. He opened the game, but retired in favor of Cobb at the end of the first inning on account of a lame arm…

Also the Call, two days later:

Colonel Robinson can thank his lucky stars that George Cobb had darting pains in his ear yesterday afternoon. Had George been well enough to pitch, the handsome Colonel of an awkward squad would have lost five games in the last series instead of four.

One game a week is all Oakland is entitled to anyhow, and if they failed to secure that Mr. Robinson would probably have a duck fit, whatever that is. He is still confident of success, and is reaching out for the pennant of 1891 with the feverish, insatiable yearning of a man feeling up his back for the end of a broken suspender…

Owing to the severe pain in his ear, Mr. Cobb was unable to pitch, so he sat in the grand-stand with his other clothes on and watched the movements of young Mr. Jackson with a critical eye. Mr. Jackson was Cobb’s substitute for the afternoon. He didn’t fill the position as well as he did the uniform, being over six feet high, but he did the best he could.

Mr. Jackson is an amateur who won a game for the Burlingtons in the morning and tackled the Oaklands in the afternoon…

That same edition of the Call reported that “Pitcher George Cobb of the Frisco team is suffering from an abscess in his ear.” Sounds nasty, but he didn’t miss any more time. The August 10 Examiner described his performance of the previous day:

George Cobb pitched ball that should have given him the game. It was not strike-out ball, but a superb exhibition of purely scientific pitching, the working of the corners of the plate, high and low, fast and slow balls interspersed with a “drop” that the Dukes couldn’t hit hard enough to give the fielders warming up exercise. Five scattered hits, one of a doubtful character, was all that he was touched off for. And yet he couldn’t win because the team back of him fielded like a lot of cripples and threw away enough chances at the bat to hit in runs to have won a dozen games.

On August 26 the Oakland Tribune reported that George, who had been splitting the pitching for San Francisco with Otto Young, was now doing all of it; soon after that, though, the team added another pitcher, Harry Blauvelt. The Sporting Life California correspondent, writing from San Francisco, reported in the October 10 edition:

George Cobb, the pitcher of the home team, has Eastern aspirations and is quoted as saying that unless he can find a berth in the National League or American Association next season, he will bid adieu to base ball. Cobb is in a position to retire from the diamond, as he has very wealthy relatives who are anxious to have the twirler enter into commercial pursuits. I do not think that Cobb would be out of his class in a major league. He is a very steady and cool fellow in the box, is possessed of splendid control and is one of the speediest pitchers west of the Rocky Mountains. With a good fielding team behind him, Cobb would prove a winning pitcher in faster company than he mixes with now. George has plenty of confidence in his ability to hold his own at the East, and his ambition is praiseworthy, to say the least.

From the November 9 Examiner:

Henry Harris, owner and manager of the San Francisco ball team, in the middle of the fifth inning at the ball game at Haight street yesterday afternoon lost his head as he saw runs coming in over the plate for the opposing team, and created a scene by calling in George Cobb, his best pitcher, fining him $50, suspending him for the balance of the season and trying to further humiliate his employee in the eyes of the crowd by ordering him to the clubhouse to dress. Not a one in the 7,000 people present had the least idea why Harris should act so. Cobb had been pitching winning ball. But five scattered hits had been made off him. But the support he had received was enough to have crazed almost any man as anxious to win as Cobb. None of the runs scored by Sacramento had been earned, so people were at a loss to understand the move of the San Francisco manager. It was not until the game was over that it was given. Then Harris told the baseball writers who asked him that the reason he had taken out Cobb was that the pitcher was “tipping off” to the batter the kind of ball he intended pitching, adding “I heard him at the bench.” A more unjust accusation could not have been made, and it is one that reflects anything but credit on the man making it. No one else heard Cobb say a word to any of the batters. No one but Harris even thought that anything of the kind had been done, and no one will believe the charge made by Harris. Roberts was asked after the game if Cobb spoke or signed to him the kind of ball he was to pitch, and indignantly denied that such was the case. So did all the other players of both teams. Cobb has been the best man Harris has ever had in the box. He has worked hard and faithfully for him, pitching game after game when the other pitchers were laid up with sore arms, and always pitching good ball. Out of 137 games played so far by the team Cobb has pitched in 70, a record for hard, faithful work to be proud of, and which the public appreciated, as the grand reception given him as he went off the field yesterday fully shows. Harris made a mistake, and in trying to cover up his own blunder he has made an unjust accusation against as fine a ballplayer as he ever had under contract. He had a perfect right to take Cobb out of the box. He had a right to suspend him. He had no right to fine him $50 for something Cobb did not do. Above all he had no right to accuse him of unfair playing. Cobb, suspended and unjustly deprived of the money he has honestly earned, is a firmer figure to-day in California League baseball than the manager who suspended and fined him.

Two days later George and Harris had a meeting, the result of which was that George got his $50 back, but Harris did not want him back on the team, preferring to have Blauvelt pitch the last nine games of the season. George then met with Bay Area resident George Van Haltren, who had played with the American Association’s Baltimore Orioles in 1891 and had been signed as player-manager by the National League’s Baltimore Orioles for 1892, the AA having folded. They agreed on terms for an 1892 contract.

For the 1891 season, George pitched 70 games, with a 44-26 won-lost record. The official stats did not include innings pitched, but he allowed 5.40 runs and 1.40 earned runs per game; I don’t know if they counted earned runs in exactly the same way then as now, but that seems like an awful lot of unearned runs, even in those more error-filled days. He struck out 191 and walked 244.

George then pitched some games for a Los Angeles winter league team, including at least one against his former San Francisco teammates. On January 22 it was reported that he was about to leave for Baltimore; on March 19 the Baltimore Sun reported that he had arrived:

George W. Cobb, the California pitcher, whom Van Haltren signed for the Baltimore Base-Ball Club, is the first of the Oriole team for 1892 to report for duty. He arrived in Baltimore with his wife, and an hour later called on Secretary Herman von der Horst at headquarters. Cobb is a modest young man of good address. He is about two inches short of six feet in height and of slender but muscular build. His complexion is dark and he has black hair and a little black mustache. Before coming to Baltimore Cobb stopped over some time in Chicago. He has not seen Van Haltren for some time. Cobb played his last game in January, after which he went to his wife’s home, in Southern California, for a short rest. He says he is in good physical condition. Cobb made his debut as a professional base-ball pitcher in the Iowa State League in 1889. In the following year of 1890 he pitched for the Oakland (Cal.) Club and in 1891 for the San Francisco team. For the present he is registered at Pepper’s hotel.

On April 15 at home against Brooklyn, the second game of the season, George made his major league debut, in relief of Egyptian Healy in a 10-6 loss. Sporting Life reported:

The Brooklyns batted Healy so hard in the first five innings that he was taken out of the box and gave way to Cobb, the new Californian, who was quite effective, and he was just a little nervous, but this feeling soon wore off, and he pitched a splendid game. Had he been in from the start the result might have been different, as only two hits were made off him and not another run scored.

The next day Boston came to town, and George made his first start. Sporting Life said:

Pitcher Cobb did great work, notwithstanding the exceedingly weak support he received and the poor judgment displayed by the Orioles in running the bases…The only way Cobb could retire the visitors was by striking them out.

He lost 11-5 despite allowing only six hits, but walked seven while his team made nine errors behind him. On April 20 he was ahead 6-5 when the game was forfeited to the Giants; on April 23 he lost 19-9 as 12 errors were made behind him. On April 27 he lost 4-1, running the team’s record to 1-10, which resulted in Van Haltren being replaced as manager by Billy Waltz. The first two games under Waltz, both losses, were April 29 and 30 in Pittsburgh; during one of the games George and teammate Curt Welch were caught drinking under the stands. Waltz was replaced with Ned Hanlon after going 2-6, and the Baltimore correspondent to Sporting Life wrote of Waltz’s demise in the May 14 edition:

The players were incited to mutiny by the press. They and he could read in cold print that he was personally hated, and that they would not play for him. Such demoralizing statements forestalled any effort he might make to gain the good will of his men, and really incited them to acts of insubordination, riot and dissipation. It was probably the thing that instigated Welch and Cobb to set up an amateur bar under the grand stand at Pittsburg during a game in which they participated [actually George did not pitch in either of the games], and to be their own best customers in destroying the beverage. It is almost due to the good name of base ball that those two men should be suspended for such a period as would prove a lesson to them for all time. This big League can hardly afford to be passive in such a case. If unnoticed it proclaims a looseness and license that will be detrimental to the whole body. The other clubs are involved, and should insist that Welch and Cobb should pay the penalty for bringing the whole organization into disrepute with respectable people. It is bad enough for them to swill like swine when off duty, but to insult spectators and demoralize their play during a championship game which spectators have paid to witness, demand some prompt and severe measures.

George doesn’t seem to have missed any time as a result of this. He pitched on May 1, losing 11-2 while the team made eight errors, then on May 7 he got his first win, 4-3 at Cleveland. The May 28 Sporting Life said:

Cobb, the young California hurler, is doing good work for the Orioles. Most players think, however, that he won’t last the season out, as he depends too much on his drop ball and uses it constantly, thus hastening the ruin of his arm.

At this point he had a 2-7 record. From the June 15 Riverside Independent:

A late issue of the Baltimore News says of Geo. Cobb, the base ball pitcher: “There was a rumor last night that George Washington Cobb, of California had resigned. No one was surprised. He pitched a glorious game and deserved better treatment from the club he worked for. In eleven innings only five hits were made off his delivery, and he struck out eight men. Besides this he made a nice little single. He proved himself the best pitcher on the Baltimore club, though, and if he can get any consolation out of that honor he is welcome to it. The public appreciates your work, Cobb, if your comrades did not.”

That was the May 27 game. From the June 25 Sporting Life:

Pitcher Cobb, of Baltimore, is evidently not a stayer or else is not in condition. He invariably pitches effectively for six or seven innings and then lets down for the rest of the game.

At this point he had a 3-15 record. The July 11 San Francisco Chronicle reported: “George Cobb is utterly disgusted with pitching ball for the Baltimore team and is anxious to return to California.” Two days later the Oakland Tribune expressed it somewhat differently:

George Cobb does not like the Baltimore management and is anxious to return to California. He has probably discovered by this time that he cannot do as he pleases and when he kicks over the traces, so to speak, he gets a fine that astounds him. George always was a hard man to handle, and when he was in Oakland the colonel was continually devising schemes to keep him up to the work. Harris probably got along with him better than any other manager in the league. I would not be surprised to hear of Cobb coming back to California almost any day.

After a 16-5 loss on July 16 George’s record stood at 5-21. He didn’t get another start until he won 7-2 on August 10, but I don’t know why. The September 24 Sporting Life reported that “The Baltimore Club had served pitcher Cobb with notice of release, but when [Sadie] McMahon broke over the traces [in other words, he was suspended for the rest of the season] Cobb’s release was quickly recalled.” In early October George started three straight games, though that is somewhat less impressive considering that they were over a six day period and that he lost all three.

The Orioles finished last, with a 46-101 record. George went 10-37, his 37 losses leading the league, as did his 12 home runs allowed, 333 runs allowed, and 213 earned runs allowed; he pitched 394 1/3 innings in 53 games, 47 of them starts, and 42 of those complete games, and had a 4.86 ERA. (The team’s other main pitcher, McMahon, had a 19-25 record and 3.24 ERA in almost exactly the same number of innings.) George hit .209/.299/.308 in 172 at-bats, and got into six games in the outfield.

The season ended October 15; on November 14 the San Francisco Chronicle reported:

George Washington [sic] Cobb, formerly of Oakland, but more recently out of the National League, has returned from the East to spend the winter in California. He is accompanied by his wife. Cobb says he is disgusted with the condition of affairs in the East and will play here next season if he can find an opening in one of the California League clubs.

George pitched in a few amateur games over the winter. In February 1893 there were reports that Oakland was trying to sign him, but that didn’t happen. One of his obituaries stated that he had an injured arm at this time, but I didn’t find any contemporary reports on that. Another obituary said that he was keeping the books for the Riverside Gas Company. He pitched in just one professional game that season, for the California League’s Los Angeles Angels in a home game against Oakland; he pitched a four-hitter but lost 1-0 on an unearned run. On April 22 he left for Iowa after receiving a telegram that his father was not expected to live; he returned a month later, and Edwin lived another twenty years.

George organized a baseball game to be played as part of Riverside’s July 4 festivities, between the town team, for which he pitched, and USC. The July 6 Riverside Independent Enterprise reported:

The home team put up a good game all through. The boys, under the experienced leadership of George Cobb, show considerable improvement in playing and are today, without doubt, the best amateur nine in the state. The local nine began the work of run-getting in the first inning and continued to add to the score until fifteen had been scored up to the eighth inning, while the visitors succeeded in getting only six runs. At this point the latter gave up the struggle and left for home.

In January 1894 George signed a contract with the Detroit Creams of the Western League. In the February 3 Sporting Life their California correspondent wrote:

George Cobb and Pete Lohman will make a splendid battery for Milwaukee. Cobb has had a long rest and should be able to pitch good ball this year.

The same issue reported George’s signing with Detroit, and also that Milwaukee had waived their claim to him. Meanwhile, at some point during his time in Riverside he had become involved with a bicycle club. From the March 7 Riverside Daily Press:

Next Sunday the Riverside Wheelmen will go to Cold Water Cañon, the occasion being a farewell run tendered by the club to Captain George Cobb and wife, before their departure for the East. All wheelmen are invited, and those who intend going should leave their names with the secretary or some member of the club before Friday noon.

George made his debut with Detroit on April 28, starting the team’s fourth game of the season, and lost 6-2. He then lost 14-11 on May 4 and 7-5 on May 8; the May 19 Sporting Life, which included the box scores of those two games, reported: “Pitcher Cobb has been laid off without pay by Detroit owing to a lame arm.” He pitched in relief on May 23 and 25, then played first base and left field on May 27 and 28. The June 9 Sporting Life said that he had been left behind on a road trip to rest his sore arm. He got two more starts and two more losses, 13-6 on June 5 and 11-3 on June 12, and then was released. He played in nine games, seven of those pitching, five of those starting, and had an 0-5 record and 4.85 ERA in 39 innings, allowing 64 hits and 24 walks. He gave up 47 runs, but the majority of them were unearned. He did hit .300 in 30 at-bats.

The July 25 Cedar Rapids Gazette reported:

George Cobb, who in 1892 pitched for the Baltimores and since for the Detroits, was in the city last night en route for the Pacific Coast, the place of his present home. His home was formerly in Independence. He was accompanied by Mrs. Cobb.

George picked things back up with the Riverside Wheelmen, acting as a judge for the races of August 22, and competing on September 10. On October 4 he was elected vice president of the organization. He also became the guiding force of Riverside baseball, and organized a Thanksgiving game, as reported by the Riverside Independent Enterprise on November 27:

THANKSGIVING SPORTS

The Ball Game Promises to Be a Fine One.

The promised baseball game to be played at Athletic park Thursday next is attracting considerable attention from the old boys who never lose an opportunity to witness a game of the national sport…

George Cobb, who will be master of ceremonies of the game, promises a good one, and in doing so says that it will be a game for keeps. One good indication that the game will be a hummer is that among the names of the players are to be found some prime favorites on the diamond.

The game was Riverside versus Los Angeles, and George pitched for Riverside. Riverside won 19-11, as George hit a homer and a triple. In June 1895 he was one of the initial investors as the Riverside Wheelmen incorporated; the Independent Enterprise reported that:

The purposes of the organization are set out to be the fostering, encouraging and conducting of all manner of athletic sports, and to provide grounds and premises for such sports and exhibitions; to organize and run excursions for the purpose and to buy, sell, own, lease and improve real property for such purpose.

August 9 Riverside Daily Press:

George W. Cobb is taking steps for the re-organization of the Riverside baseball nine. Under George’s management the Riverside nine at one time became quite famous for victories won throughout Southern California, and he sees no good reason that the team should not again take its rightful place. So it may be expected that the Riverside baseball nine will soon be ready for all comers…

August 17 weekly Riverside Press & Horticulturist:

Mrs. Geo. W. Cobb performed the feat of accompanying the wheelmen of Riverside to Pomona and return Sunday. Quite a long ride for a lady…

September 20 Independent Enterprise:

TO PLAY BALL

What George Cobb Says About the National Game.

The work of leveling and putting the ground inside the new wheelmen’s track in shape for a base ball diamond is being carried forward now with all possible dispatch. Within a few days a heavy roller will be put on the ground to give it the last finishing touches. George Cobb, who is the moving spirit in the plan to give the base ball enthusiasts of Riverside some of their favorite sport this winter, says that a game will be arranged for just as soon as the ground is in proper condition. Just where the nine that will oppose the Riverside aggregation will come from is not settled as yet, but wherever they do hail from, Mr. Cobb promises a lively and interesting contest. A good game of ball would prove a drawing card here now, for it has been a long time since the last one was played.

In the spring of 1896 there were reports that George was building a new house in Riverside, on West Eighth Street between Chestnut and Almond. In July, still just 30 years old, he was invited to play shortstop in a game for Redlands against the Francis Wilsons of Los Angeles. In December he played second base for Riverside in a game against Redlands.

Up to this point it seems like Riverside was only playing a few games a year, but in 1897 they stepped it up. George tried to qualify the team for “the California championship tournament for the Examiner’s $1000 trophy,” but as far as I can tell they didn’t make it. Meanwhile, there had been little indication as to what he was doing for a living since leaving pro baseball. But the Independent Enterprise reported on June 11:

RESIGNED HIS POSITION.

Genial John McCollum to Leave for the East.

J.A. McCollum, who has been superintendent for the Riverside Gas Company for over nine years past, has handed in his resignation, to take effect July 1.

Mr. McCollum quits his place on account of his wife’s health, which has been very poor for a long time past. His place will be filled by A.L. Rice and George Cobb, who will divide the labors.

On February 12, 1898, the Press & Horticulturist reported on the monthly meeting of the county supervisors; included was the fact that “The bills of John McMillen, George Cobb and B.R. Singletary, for the care of Walters, the insane man, were rejected.” Unfortunately, I don’t know anything else about that subject. That spring George served on a jury and on a coroner’s jury. On June 11 the Daily Press ran the following:

It Couldn’t Have Been Otherwise

The following letter has been received by Thomas Brennan, carriage painter at the Peters repository, which that gentleman has shown us with no little manifest pride:

Riverside, June 10.

Thomas Brennan, Dear Sir:--I am instructed by the hook and ladder company to extend sincere thanks and appreciation for the beautiful painting done by you on our hook and ladder wagon. Yours truly,

GEORGE W. COBB,

Secretary and Treasurer.

I didn’t find any references to George and the Riverside baseball team during 1898; by early 1899 he seemed to be relegated to old-timer status, as seen in the following, from the February 21 Daily Press:

Cobb’s Colts are feeling very confident that they will win the ball game from the High School boys tomorrow. Cobb’s team is made up of such old-timers as Dr. Sawyer, George Cobb, Bert Newcomb, Bert Raley and others who have won fame on the diamond in the past. On the other hand, the High School boys assert that they have beaten everything that has come their way, and are confident that the lack of practice on the part of the old-timers will make them an easy mark.

The Colts won 12-8, the Daily Press proclaiming:

The “Colts” are still very frisky, and the High School undoubtedly has the best High School nine in Southern California. Riverside is still the home of the national game.

Just a few weeks later, on March 12, the Sacramento Daily Union reported that Henry Harris of San Francisco’s California League team was trying to get George to make a comeback, but nothing came of it. Instead George got involved in plans for a semi-pro Southern California League, for which he would manage and pitch for the San Bernardino team and serve as the league secretary. Two teams in Los Angeles and one in San Diego rounded out the league; the original plan was for an African-American team called the Trilbys to be one of the Los Angeles teams, but after they lost an exhibition game to San Diego, 28-5, it was decided that they were not good enough. From the August 5 Press & Horticulturist:

CHAMPION BALL TEAM

San Bernardino Stays in Race—Cobb Is All Right

Times-Index: It has been reported for the last two weeks that the San Bernardino league baseball nine would break up or at least that the game last Sunday would be the last at which George Cobb would act as manager. The reports were based on two facts, the most important of which was unless work was found for the members of the team during the week days they could not afford to remain in this city, as the receipts from the games were not sufficient to keep them going. At last this trouble seems to have been got around and there is no longer any doubt that the old team will continue to do business at the old stand.

The other reason alleged for the team breaking up was some dissatisfaction that existed between Cobb and some of the players. For a time this seemed to be in a fair way to break up the nine, but now it is all settled and Cobb will continue as manager.

Independent Enterprise, August 24:

BASE BALL MATTERS

Managers Will Meet to Discuss Hiring Professional Players

The managers of the Southern California baseball league will hold a meeting in Los Angeles today for the purpose of deciding the question of employing professional players. Up to the present time no professional players have been admitted to any of the clubs, as the rules governing the league prevented it.

The San Diego club wants to employ such players, in fact, has wanted to, but the two Los Angeles clubs and the San Bernardino club have opposed the employment of professionals. The managers of these clubs think that there is plenty of good baseball material in Southern California. The matter will soon be settled one way or the other.

The decision was made to allow one professional player per team. Two days later the San Francisco Examiner reported that the Oakland California League team was trying to sign George to pitch, but on September 11 the Daily Press reported:

George Cobb returned this afternoon to Pomona, where he has a job with a wholesale meat firm. He says he has quit baseball for this season at least, and will stick to a more lucrative business.

Same paper, September 13:

San Bernardino Sun: Baseball has received the hardest blow in this town when George Cobb severed his connection with the home team, that it has received in years. If it had not been for Cobb, San Bernardino would have little knowledge of the national game. He has organized teams, managed games, and done more to create a demand for baseball than any other man in this neck of the woods, and all this, too, when San Bernardino was not his home. Of the reasons that led to his retirement we know nothing. They may be good, bad or indifferent. But baseball without Cobb will be a questionable venture.

Same day, Independent Enterprise:

[San Bernardino] Times-Index: San Bernardino has lost a good pitcher as George Cobb has quit the champions. Why he quits he does not say, but it is easy to presume that it is due to the treatment he has received of late. Cobb has pitched excellent ball for Berdoo and got but little encouragement from the people who attended the games. Again, he is working at Pomona and does not feel that he can lose the time when compelled to play on a week day…

Next day, San Diego Union:

George Cobb, manager and pitcher of the San Bernardino baseball team and one of the league directors, has resigned and will not play with the San Bernardinos again. Cobb was one of the best pitchers in the league and his loss will no doubt leave the San Bernardinos weaker. He has assigned not reason for his action, but it is presumed that he took the step because he felt he was not being treated right…

October 21, Daily Press:

Hook and Ladder Company Meeting

…On account of his removal to Pomona, George Cobb tendered his resignation as secretary and treasurer of the company, and it was accepted…In recognition of Mr. Cobb’s long and active service in the company, he was made an honorary member of the organization.

In November George became the administrator of the estate of his late father-in-law, Benjamin Burt. In March 1900 he won a skeet shooting gold medal at the Pomona Gun Club; in October, though he was now living in Pomona rather than Riverside, he was elected to the board of directors of the Riverside Gas and Electric Company. In late 1901 and early 1902 there were references to his playing in two baseball games. From the Riverside Independent Enterprise, May 10, 1902:

Mrs. George Cobb was in the city yesterday on business. They will leave Pomona for San Francisco where Mr. Cobb has accepted a position as bookkeeper for Siegel Bros., and will enter on his duties Monday.

As reported by the Pomona Progress on May 12, though, “Mr. Cobb is to be collector and bookkeeper for Selig Bros., wholesale clothiers.” In any case they were back in Pomona to stay by August 1. From the San Diego Tribune, April 19, 1904:

WEBB SAID TO BE SMOOTH FORGER

The San Bernardino Sun has the following concerning the capture of Webb, who yesterday fixed up matters with those whom he had wronged, and was dismissed:

San Diego, April 15.

Sheriff Ralphs, San Bernardino, Cal.:

I have warrant for Loller, alias Thomas H. Webb. Watch Santa Fe overland, east-bound, tomorrow. Loller is 38 years of age, six feet: weight about 225 pounds: dark hair and moustache. Blue eyes and pepper and salt suit.

(Signed) A.A. THOMAS

Chief of Police.

But it will be unnecessary for the officers to watch this morning’s ‘south-bound Southern Pacific,’ for Loller is even now occupying a cell in the county jail.

In obeyance of the above message from Chief Thomas of San Diego, Sheriff Ralphs and Under Sheriff McNabb were at the Santa Fe station when the east-bound overland pulled in from the west at 10:15 last evening, where they arrested their man…

Loller is wanted for forgery and is said to be one of the smoothest of the smooth. After his arrest last evening he wired to George Cobb, a former baseball player of this city, but who now lives in Pomona, asking him to come to this city at once. For what reason is not known.

The reason is still not known, as is whether George went to San Diego or not. In December 1904 he pitched in a game in Riverside for the Knights of Pythias against the Elks. In 1906 he sold the Eighth Street house in Riverside.

In the 1910 census George and Maud are shown as living at 1015 Garey Avenue in Pomona, but that is presumably a typo for 1035, where they had been living for most of the time since they left Riverside in 1899. George is listed as a milkman, self-employed in his own dairy. He went through a number of jobs during the time he and Maud lived in Pomona; one of his obituaries said that:

In his earlier years here he owned and operated a meat market for a time. Later he entered the dairy business and conducted a dairy until it became evident that the work was too hard for him.

As an accountant he served with several well known Pomona firms. These included the Pomona Valley Ice Co., where he was on two different occasions, the San Antonio Meat Co., the Sanitary Laundry, Indian Hill Citrus association, and business in Imperial valley for a others [sic]. He was also in the cattle business for a short time.

By 1917 the Cobbs were living in La Jolla. From the San Diego Union, June 10, 1917:

CAVE MEN HOLD TRIBAL BANQUET IN THEIR LAIR

Mysterious Aggregation at La Jolla Organizes, With Full Set of Officers.

The Cave Men of La Jolla are “on their way,” having duly installed officers for the first year of the infant organization. The club membership is limited to twenty-three residents and seven non-residents, around which limitation is said to hover some dark, deep significance.

The elected officers included George as Extractor of Tribute. Same newspaper, June 18:

WHALE BARBECUE FOR BIG FIESTA WILL BE GIVEN

Meat Coming From Seattle, Chefs From San Francisco To Prepare Unique Feast.

La Jolla’s great whale barbecue, the feature event of the first day of the Friendship Fiesta celebration, is assured. Arnold Kruckman of the San Diego progress commission was informed yesterday that 1000 pounds of whale meat have been shipped by Wells-Fargo express in ice-boxes from Seattle…

The whale barbecue committee is made up of George W. Cobb,…

In June 1918 George was the secretary of the La Jolla Chamber of Commerce, which was investigating charges that La Jolla landlords were guilty of raising rents on army officers. On December 7, 1919, a classified ad appeared in the San Diego Union:

WANTED—Private loan. $6000: excellent security. George W. Cobb, La Jolla, Cal.

In the 1920 census, taken in January, George and Maud are back in their house on Garey Avenue in Pomona, where George is a bookkeeper for a grain and milling company. In June he was elected bookkeeper of the Escondido Mutual Water Company, and was referred to as “formerly of La Jolla and a ranch owner in the Valley,” which makes me think he was doing his ranch-owning from Garey Avenue. On August 11 the Pomona Progress reported that he had purchased a five-acre orange grove in the Ontario district. The August 20 edition of the same paper contained a half-page ad listing Republican voters endorsing Charles F. Van de Ater for Congress; one of those voters was “George W. Cobb, orange grower.”

From the Pomona Progress, April 5, 1921:

ACCEPTS BID OF $10,265 FOR OLD CITY HALL

The city council at its meeting this afternoon accepted a bid of $10,265 offered by George W. Cobb for the old city hall property at the southeast corner of Garey avenue and Third street. The city reserves the right to use the old city hall and jail for six months without rental…

The story in the next day’s Pomona Bulletin added: “When asked later what use he intended to make of the property, Mr. Cobb stated that he was not ready as yet to state other than that he intended to make improvements there.”

In April 1922 George was named secretary of Pomona’s newly-formed fair association; the fair would soon become the Los Angeles County Fair. He had come a long way from drinking under the stands in Pittsburgh. On the other hand, the Pomona Bulletin reported on September 28:

HURRYING TO MEETING, RUNS CAR THROUGH PROCESSION

Complaint was filed last night by Captain J.F. Purdy of the Salvation army against George W. Cobb, 1035 South Garey, charging Mr. Cobb with having “driven his automobile through a procession headed by the American flag.” The accident occurred at the intersection of South Garey and Third street early last evening as Mr. Cobb was hurrying to an important meeting. The case will be heard Friday at 3 p.m.

I didn’t find anything more about the case.

On November 30 the Bulletin ran a feature where they asked various Pomona residents what they were thankful for, under the headline “Most Pomonans Declare That They Are Thankful That They Are Still Alive.” Included was:

George W. Cobb, secretary of the Los Angeles County Fair: “I’m glad that I am well. Without good health a man can not be happy, no matter how rich he is. I’m sure glad that I’ve got my health.”

Riverside Daily Press, April 28, 1923:

HARNESS RACING FANS WILL FLOCK TO POMONA FOR MAY DAY PROGRAM

FAST HORSES ARE ENTERED FOR EVENTS

PROGRAM ONE OF SERIES TO BE STAGED THERE AND AT RIVERSIDE

Lovers of harness racing from all over Southern California will flock to Pomona on May 1, where the racing committee of the Los Angeles County Fair association will stage an afternoon of racing…

Secretary George W. Cobb, former Riverside man, who is now connected with the Los Angeles County fair association was here yesterday in the interest of the big May Day program and he assured the racing sports that the program will be one of the best in the line of matinee events that has been staged in the southland in many days.

In fact, George by this time was part owner of a trotter named Prince Mason that was starting to get attention in Southern California harness racing circles. On December 21 he was elected president of the Western Fair Association at their annual meeting in San Francisco.

The Pomona Progress reported on January 11, 1924:

Two Automobiles Are Robbed Here

E.G. Stahlman, 1225 West Fifth street, and George W. Cobb, 1035 South Garey, reported that while attending a meeting last night in the Lincoln Grammar school their automobiles were gone thru and frisked of a few small articles. The marauders who evidently were small boys turned everything upside down and scattered articles hither and thither. Mr. Stahlman lost a large silver plated flash light in the shuffle.

The county fair and the harness racing still left George with enough time and energy to work for the election of Calvin Coolidge in the fall. A fair association meeting scheduled for June 1, 1925, was rescheduled so that the directors “could attend the program given by the Tulsa Shrine Chanters,” George announced the next afternoon. On December 20 he was re-elected to the board of directors of the Escondido Citrus Union corporation.

It seems that by this time George, now 60, was in failing health, though it doesn’t appear that it was slowing him down yet; the January 10, 1926, San Diego Union reported that “Sale of the 22-acre ranch at Del Mar, owned by Maj. And Mrs. George E. Bowers of this city, was announced today by George W. Cobb, local representative of the John W. Snyder company,” which to me makes it sound like, in addition to everything else, he was working as a realtor.

However, an April 25 article in the San Diego Union on an annual Rotary conference being held there mentioned George as someone who would be attending, and said that he “was secretary of the Los Angeles county fair,” past tense. Then, on August 19, he passed away. Both Pomona newspapers ran long obituaries; this is from the one in the Bulletin, with most of his baseball career and some other things edited out for redundancy (and some inaccuracy):

 

COUNTY FAIR PIONEER IN LAST SLEEP

Lingering Illness of Year Had Weakened Former Secretary

POMONAN 27 YEARS

Was Sportsman and One-Time Pitcher of Baltimore Orioles

George W. Cobb, first secretary of the Los Angeles county fair, and a resident of Pomona for 27 years [minus the time he lived in San Francisco and La Jolla], died last night at his home, 1035 South Garey avenue, after a lingering illness of a year. Death was caused by a malignant growth. He was 63 [60] years old. Mr. Cobb’s illness had confined him to his bed for the past eight weeks and since early Wednesday he had been unconscious. Doctors were in constant attendance, but he grew steadily worse. Death occurred at 11:15 last night.

Credit for the successful development of the Los Angeles County fair has been given to Mr. Cobb, who was its prime mover until he resigned his position because of ill health at the end of last year. His name has been long associated with sporting circles and in his youth he was a professional baseball player with the old Baltimore Orioles and Oakland of the Coast league. He was known in Pomona as a lover of horses…

George Cobb was truly a pioneer Californian and a pioneer Pomonan. How much the years had woven the love of his adopted state into his heart is demonstrated by the enthusiasm with which he worked for the exposition which would, primarily, give an opportunity to display the products of California. He was ever loyal to his adopted state and loved its traditions…

With this wide experience it is little wonder that his name should have received immediate attention for the office of secretary, when the organization of the Los Angeles county fair was being perfected. He became the first secretary and, for the first two years was, in reality, manager as well.

The success of the Los Angeles county fair became his sole purpose. With characteristic determination he entered upon the duties to make the fair a success. How well he has succeeded is self-evident. In the first couple of struggling years the officers of the organization know only too well how jealously he guarded every avenue to see that there was no deficit. His books were declared to be models of thoroughness, completeness and efficiency…

He was also a lover of the out-of-doors, and of late years he was never happier than when at his cabin at Forest Home…

And from the Progress’s version:

 

Large Circle Saddened by Cobb Death

MASONIC RITES MONDAY, 2 P.M.

L.A. Fair Secretary Was Big League Pitcher In Early Manhood

Messages of condolence from all parts of the county were arriving here today at the home of George W. Cobb, 1035 S. Garey, secretary of the Los Angeles County Fair association, who died at 11:15 Thursday night after lying in an unconscious condition since early Wednesday.

The pioneer Pomonan and sportsman, who had been failing for more than a year, was greatly esteemed by local citizens, many of whom had known him during the 27 years he had lived here, but the messages of sympathy to Mrs. Cobb from Pacific Coast cities and all points of the east, told of a wider circle of acquaintances of the fair official.

Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock Monday afternoon, with Pomona Masons conducting the rites in the Masonic Temple. Todd and Reeves will have charge. Burial will be in Riverside cemetery.

Dr. J. Hudson Ballard, pastor of First Presbyterian church, will officiate…

When founders of the Los Angeles County Fair here sought a secretary, the call was given George Cobb, and his efforts during the fair’s first four years were largely responsible for the firm and enviable position it occupies on the Pacific coast today.

Progressive, the secretary nevertheless was careful that expenditures were restricted to the limits set by income, and while other fairs were using red ink in the balance, each year the local fair showed a surplus.

George Cobb was justly proud of the substantial growth of the fair and always credited its board of directors and manager as well as the public for its continual growth and prosperity. Annual audit of books and ledgers brought high praise from the examiners for the methodical and scrupulous care taken in making the records, for his collegiate training and previous experience here stood him in good stead…

Besides Mrs. Cobb, two brothers survive him, Edward [Edwin] of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Harry of Independence, Iowa. Besides his Masonic connections, he was a member of the Pomona Rotary club.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/C/Pcobbg101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cobbge01.shtml